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OPEN ACCESS ARTICLE
EDITORIAL |
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Received February 7, 2007;
accepted for publication February 8, 2007.
It may be said that Dr. Louis Siminovitch is a Canadian molecular biologist. By the same token, Rembrandt would only be called a portrait painter. In fact, Lou Siminovitch was a pioneer in human genetics, a force that discovered the genetic basis of muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis, and one who helped found and foster Canadian programs exploring the genetic roots of cancer. Born in Montreal, Quebec, to parents who had emigrated from Eastern Europe, he won a scholarship in chemistry to McGill University, earning a doctorate in 1944. He then studied at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. In 1953, he joined Toronto's Connaught Medical Research Laboratories. Later he joined the University of Toronto and worked there from 1956 to 1985. He helped establish the Department of Genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children as geneticist-in-chief, where he worked from 1970 to 1985. From 1983 to 1994 he was the founding director of research at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto, Canada) where he remains its Emeritus Director and where he is found at work most every day.
He is author or coauthor of approximately 150 scientific papers, reviews, and articles in journals and books. He married Elinore, a playwright who died in 1995 and to whom he dedicated his memoirs, Reflections on a Life in Science [1], by writing: "I have written these memories in loving memory of my life with Elinore, my spouse, friend, companion and mentor. She was a constant fount of strength, inspiration and devotion through fifty years of marriage. ‘Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eyes. In every gesture, dignity and love.’ (John Milton, Paradise Lost)." They had three daughters.
His honors are numerous as are his honoris causa degrees from many universities. None of his honors, however, is more valued by him than the brilliant students whose careers he has fostered, or the collaborations to which he has devoted a lifetime of wisdom ... and abundant humor. The field of stem cell biology owes Lou Siminovitch an enormous debt. Indeed, this editor remains deeply appreciative for the early inspiration by Lou and his work.
REFERENCE
The work conducted by McCulloch and Till and their colleagues, both in Canada and elsewhere, had an immediate impact. Their findings were the forerunner of the identification of a host of other stem cells in the hemopoietic system, with predictable major influence on the development of a new understanding of the blood system and then on medical care and industry. 
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At the OCI, there was little or no concern for titles, academic discipline, or scientific specialization, nor for strategic planning, technology, and knowledge transfer—current buzzwords in the scientific commons. I recall few, if any, administrative meetings, and many other bureaucratic trappings of modern research institutions simply did not exist. Instead, the newly-minted OCI placed maximum priority on fostering a milieu encouraging scientific dialogue and interaction and, with encouragement from the management, a deep collegiality was pervasive. I do not wish to exaggerate, but this esprit was epitomized by the communal sharing of new data, of all resources, and of trainee supervision; all members of the group took great pleasure in the discoveries or advances of other individuals in the Institute and, as I recall it, without any discussion ever on publication credits. The development of the hemopoietic stem cell group was a natural consequence of this nurturing milieu.
I understand that, as pointed out by Thomas Wolfe, one cannot "go home again." It is not feasible to recreate an OCI in the modern scientific world. But to me, the McCulloch and Till stem cell discovery represents a quintessential example of the seminal importance that a free and friendly environment plays in catalyzing paradigm-shifting science. The seeds of fertile minds bloom most effectively in appropriate soil. Any aspirations for real innovation require a serious consideration of research settings that at least approximate the OCI culture and atmosphere.
The selection of McCulloch and Till for the Lasker Award in 2005, 45 years after the initial publication of their stem cell discovery, also provides another important insight on innovation. Although these investigators received some earlier recognition for their work, including a Gairdner International Award, public acknowledgment of their discoveries was minimal prior to the 2005 Lasker Award. The new appreciation for this work, a consequence of the explosion of interest in stem cell biology in recent years, reminds us that the full impact, the "relevance" of basic science discoveries, is often not immediately apparent. Impact is often realized only when a fundamental discovery, such as multipotent stem cells, is complemented with advances in technology and knowledge over the full domain of biology. As we are all well aware, such advances have been spectacular in the past few decades and have provided the collateral knowledge underpinning the resurrection of stem cell science.
The lessons epitomized by the McCulloch and Till story are clear. The hemopoietic stem cell discoveries were transformative in the 1950s and 1960s, but their potential benefits to society are only starting to be appreciated four decades later and are likely to become even more apparent in the context of 21st-century biological science.
These discoveries arose in an ambience of cooperation and openness. They emerged from a pure desire to "know," and from classic scientific endeavor in the absence of demand to demonstrate relevance, speculate on benefit, transfer knowledge, strategize, commercialize, and prioritize. As we delight in the recognition of this science from the past, one can only hope that this award can be transformative to the science culture of the present. While it is the obvious long-term goal of biomedical research, translation of scientific endeavors to societal benefit is often elusive, cannot be mandated nor easily predicted, and will be lost in a managed science culture that favors immediate impact over real biological innovation.
Lou Siminovitch
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